560 ANNUAL REPjDRT OF THE Off. Doc. 



apples, or any kind of apples; all I can guarantee is what I see 

 on the top." We will have to change our way of packing apples, 

 as well as picking apples; we will have to pick them as they mature, 

 and then grade them and pack them uniformly and when we have 

 secured the confidence of the dealer in our method of doing this, 

 there will be no trouble about the price. We have got to get over 

 this idea of picking up our mature and immature apples all at once 

 and shipping them in the market without uniformity. They should 

 be properly graded, and packed in such a way as to attract atten- 

 tion, with not a single specked or unattractive apple among them. 

 Of course, I am speaking now of gilt edged fruit. Make the con- 

 sumer want your product, and he will pay for it. You are, if it 

 costs extra to do all these things, just remember, you are simply 

 advancing the money it takes to do it. The consumer will gladly 

 pay the whole bill and a good, big profit on top. 



We used to take the best fruit and put it on the top, but the 

 business proposition has changed, and we have got to have the same 

 kind of fruit all the way through each and every package. You 

 don't suppose that this beautiful fruit that comes from the West 

 looks the same here as it does when it comes from the tree? Not 

 a bit of it. They were careful to select it, shipping only the per- 

 fect specimens, and to wrap every single specimen by hand very 

 carefully. Most of this work is done by women — that is, the wrap- 

 ping. And by the way, if you want honest and careful grading, take 

 women and girls to do this work. Let the men do the heavy work 

 — picking, rolling the barrels, handling boxes and baskets, and tak- 

 ing them to market, but when it comes to grading let the women 

 do it. They are more honest than the men, and they have a quicker 

 eve, and a quicker perception. I don't know that they deserve any 

 credit for that; they were simply made so, and cannot help it; they 

 can't be otherwise, and I'm glad of it. If you live near enough 

 to the market to do so, and can haul the fruit to market, your 

 fruit will fare better. If you cannot do this, and must depend on 

 the express companies, you v/ill fir.d that even j^our best fruit is 

 likely to sufli'er at their hands. In shipping by express we are up 

 against a serious condition. They are in position to do as they 

 please in regard to handling and promptness, and the fruit growers 

 arc simply at their mercy. Whether this organization, and the other 

 organizations combined, can bring any pressure to bear on them, I 

 don't know, but it is a serious proposition. We have found it 

 not only cheaper, but safer, to ship by freight whenever possible. 

 If you can get enough fruit together to take a car you will have 

 a better chance to get your fruit into market in better time and con- 

 dition than any otlier way, and the cost will be considerably less. 



I used to think that we had a pretty serious proposition in the 

 commission man; that he was simply trying to take advantage of 

 the fruit grower, but a better acquaintance with the men in this 

 line of business has convinced me that the average commission man 

 is a little squarer man than the average fruit grower. That is, of 

 course, in my own state, and some others. Here in Pennsylvania 

 it may be different. You are all honest and square, and it is the 

 commission men and the express companies that do the juggling. 

 But the commission man has to work just as hard for his living as 



